


Moral of the Story

by WeLookedLikeGiants



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Character Death, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Knights - Freeform, M/M, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-12 10:09:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20562578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeLookedLikeGiants/pseuds/WeLookedLikeGiants
Summary: Some mistakes get madeThat's alright, that's okaysome may fall to the bladeand some others go astrayand those mistakes get madeThat's alright, that's okayIn the end it's better for meThat's the moral of the story babe





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I decided that I wanted to write this story because the idea itself has been in my head for a while, but I didn't know which characters to choose. I guess I just went back to my grassroots with this one.

Some mistakes get made, that's alright, that's okay, some may fall to the blade, and some others go astray and those mistakes get made, that's alright, that's okay, In the end it's better for me, that's the moral of the story 

This time the people who made mistakes were two men in a time; in a place that’s contradictory of the plot to this story.

The memory of good times between one nation and another had fallen between the turmoil and chaos of war. It started with just a simple trade deal gone wrong, it was neither country’s bad, but it had lasting problems nonetheless. The pain that it had cost was far greater than the poor thief could ever have thought or had the capacity to have imagined. 

The war caused many people to meet a tragic end, but this story focuses on a very specific tragedy. A tragedy to which that caused many books to be written by many people only to be changed by a man inside of a building with a ‘t’ displayed upon the center of it. 

This tragedy focuses upon two men who had not known each other in this, nor any other lifetime. A story like this should focus upon two people within the royalty of the countries divided, but no, this story; unfortunately, focuses upon two people who were influential within their communities, but not high enough on the hierarchy to make a difference on a level to end the pain that the men at the top would see that the things that could grow from the ashes of a torn continent.

After all, the rich declare war, but the poor fight it. 

This story will center with a man with blonde, shaggy hair. A man sworn to a sword made of iron and lies. A man who, although great at concealing it, hides his own lies with iron just as well as the people who directed him to go to a war that will be fought with lies and iron, a full circle of pain that will be broken because of; but sadly, after his lifetime. A man who was told to go out on an adventure to scout out the enemy lines of soldiers all in a situation similar. This adventure would change the tide of battle by using the mistakes of each side to create something that could never be made with lies nor iron. 

Cliche-ly, this war would be ended by love, but not because of a declaration, but because of hearsay amongst the ranks of each nation’s campfires before battle. A man who’s smile would beam throughout the adventure he would never come back from, partly by choice, partly by fate, but mostly through luck. Luck that would cause a certain wrong place, wrong time situation.

The love interest of such an influential man would forever go through history as someone of grandeur, of stature, of womanliness. In that lies the main conflict of this story: the argument of who could be so great of a person to convince another to lay down a weapon, strip of armor, and grow close to someone who was directly against every moral in his book. This man would be tall, lanky, olive-skinned, handsome (although he has been described as beautiful) man who had scoured the land in order to find a certain plant’s pigment in order to change the color of his hair. A man whose gentle nature contradicted his job as a professional murderer for the will of a god no one knew existed. A man who never really believed in it, just wanted to make his family, his country, (and more importantly) his pride happy.

This story takes place once upon a bridge overlooking a vast forest to the north, and a grand waterfall to the south. This story takes place in late spring, on a cloudless afternoon. This story starts with the blonde man lost, and looking for a town that he swears he should have crossed by now. The man takes his first step hesitantly, but not by choice, he had been lost in thought for years now, but right now more than ever. He did not know or even understand when his quest would be over. The man gets to the halfway point of the bridge, taking each step with just enough caution that ensures that he doesn’t step on the cracks of the planks but, not enough caution to check if each plank is safe and secure. Suddenly the man is stopped, he crashes into a man much taller than he is. His face is concealed by a large helmet with a feather of an exotic color that the blonde man had never seen, a feather with wonderful implications upon the man who had been adorned by it.

“State your name and your place of birth.” the man with the feather state plainly, but commandingly. His hand holding up a large halberd, keeping the heavy tool steady by resting it upon his shoulder. The halberd’s handle had a similar hue of color to that of the feather upon his head, only intriguing the blonde man further.

“I am Sun, of the country Galderan, ran by the good king Sampson II himself.” The blonde man declared, a hint and shade of both pride and pain attached to the words spewed out of his brainwashed mouth. The man rested his hand upon his sword, a thin, long thing that had shed many a blood, far too many in the man’s opinion.

"Then for that I must ask you to turn around or fall to the blade of the king of Kerdra, King Melidosta, a man of grand stature and great worth.” the tall man said, taking the halberd off of his shoulder and grabbing the hilt, and brandishing the weapon until he brings it to a pose that would communicate a threat if it were not for how the man shook visibly within his armor. 

The blonde man drew his sword and put it to a cross combined with the other man’s weapon. He knew that the blue man had the range to kill him from the distance he was at now, the blonde man knew that he only had to get close to the other. That was his win condition. That was how he got out of the situation and proved to his country that he was more than his interests.

He snapped out of his thoughts and suddenly heard rattling against his sword, a small clanging noise that would normally be unnoticeable if it weren’t for the fact that he could feel the same vibrations through his own sword. The blade shaking considerably now, and it was at that moment that he realized that it wasn’t because of his own nerves that the noise was being produced.

The blonde man noticed this, lowered his own sword with one hand, and with the other; took a finger, pricked it, and pointed the blade away from his chest, outwardly towards the rushing waterfall in the background. The blade moved easily, like there was nothing holding it in the first place, like the blade was simply floating in the air.

"I wouldn’t want to provoke a fight with a man of your stature, but with the way you hold your weapon, it seems that you feel the same way about me. Maybe we can come to an agreement?” asked the blonde man, hoping that the hunch that he had bet on wouldn’t end up in a lost life. The man brandished the weapon again and wedged the weapon between two of the boards of the bridge.

“Nonsense, I must protect the bridge under my orders and if you do not want to fight; you may leave, but this is my last warning.” The tall man stated shakily, “now leave.” then he swiftly put his staff back into the position; this time, he was only inches away from the blonde man’s throat.

The blonde man simply placed his hand on the hilt of the blade, his palm open but slowly starting to close up. He looked at the man in the place that would normally be the place where eyes are, instead, there was just a helmet with 6 slits, looking not that far off of a jail cell. The blonde man took one look at his sword and knew that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with this blade in the way, so he plainly tossed the blade off of the bridge. The sword making a splash at the bottom, although it was faintly heard because of the waterfall rushing as well as the blood rushing through his head. 

As he gulped nervously for air, he saw the blade move away and fall off of the man’s hands just as easily as his, “I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I went through with that, I couldn’t strike down a man who would willingly throw away his only lifeline in hopes for yet another.” the man said, shaking his head while looking down, “I suppose now is the time for a cordial introduction, I am Neptune, son of the royal guard’s once courageous leader, but that has changed since the war.” the man said as he took off his helmet, and it was at that moment that the blonde man knew why these different parts of this man’s armor and weaponry were colored that strange blue color. 

The blond man’s eyes glittered when he looked upon the hair of the man before him, he saw so much, so many things that could happen, so many different things that no man should have the ability to see, he saw potential. 

“A wonderful name indeed, the man that commands the sea seems to command your hair as well.” the blonde man joked, “I wish that we were not in the position that we are now; for, in another, kinder life, there could have been a possible friendship. One to transcend lifetimes.”


	2. Blue Lips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue, the color of our planet from far far away.

The men walked off of the bridge to the west, back where the blonde man had come from, the grass lush with the nutrients that fell from above from the near sheer cliff. The plants all around the cliff face all bending to the southern wall of water as if to beg for more than what the water had already given to them. The western side had large, dark green ferns with leaves that spread wide to catch more water, their stems were colored similarly to the way the tall man’s hair was pigmented and the ground around these ferns, stained, with the exotic coloring, making incredible shapes that could only be replicated by looking at an endless sea. This thought made the blonde man wonder if that was the source of dye for his hair.

Inversely, the eastern side large trees that had thin, yet healthy branches with large leaves facing towards the water with bright yellow flowers facing the opposite end, towards the northern horizon. The flowers looked like they belonged upon the tops of kings as if they themselves could be a crown with the way that these petals reflected upon the light that the spring sun gave off and had shown down to touch these golden petals.

These plants were greedy in their own rights, but they that doesn’t mean that they could simply be taking advantage of their situation. It’s not their fault that they need these resources to grow, but the problem that could arise is when these plants run out of room to take over these resources. The ferns were practically already climbing over each other, and the trees were already spread as thinly as possible, their poor branches already looked as if they would break from the weight from only the leaves and flowers, let alone any bird that would want to roost upon the bark or use the thin sticks for a nest.

The two men exited the bridge to the west, they walked along the trail, passing by more ferns that were smaller in size, but still ever beautiful. The blonde man held his hand out and would run his gloved fingers lazily across any fern that would have the grace to grow along the path. The man glanced at his fingers, noticing that his hands had been dusted with the odd color he had not known quite as well as he had done this day. His own country had displayed this color, but when reminiscing of when he was back home; he remembered that the color was simply much more faded to look like a darker version of green.

They walked along for quite a ways, an awkward silence between the two was growing ever-present. They kept this unwelcome lack of communication until they made it to a small clearing where the ferns and the oak trees had suddenly stopped. The grass was still present, and the plants continued later on in the path. In the center of the clearing there was a sheer cliff, the tall man went over to it, knelt down, then swung his legs off of the ledge and propped himself up with his arms behind him with his elbows locked straight. The blonde man followed suit when he had gotten to a similar position except he hunched over the ledge and placed his arms upon his knees; he picked at the grass around him, pulling bit by bit and letting it float to the wind individually.

“So, I’ve never been to Galdera. What’s it like over there?” The tall man said in an effort to break the icy halt that had been built by their two warring nations. “I would bet that the city’s streets are not too different from Kerdra, I’m sure they’re architecture is laid out in the same way that ours are.” The tall man stated, he lightly twirled some of the broken chainmail at the bottom of his shirt. He was very obviously trying to find a reason to not just push the blonde male aside him off the edge and just go about his business. To find a reason to just pretend that their nation’s are simply not at war and that they are just two men passing through the thicket of the vast forest expanse that covers the borders of the two nations.

“It’s actually really open-ended, the streets have large pathways for crowds of people, carriages, and even the occasional kingly parade floats to go down on. The problem with this is that it gets really dirty;” the man answered as he pulled the stem of one of the ferns off. The lifeblood of the plant leaking thinly at the scar left by the nonchalant tearing of the fern, “it’s ‘cause we live in the plains that are just outside the forest areas, it’s good for farming, bad for the winter and for windy days.” 

The tall man noted how the diction of the man beside him had suddenly changed; he’d been hoping for the other to finally completely drop the professional activities that the man had kept for this entire time, but he knew that he himself had kept a similar wall that wouldn’t be so easy to fell as the man beside him. “I didn’t know that; I had grown up with the thought that the Galdera lived in the forests just as the Kerdra did. I guess this war spreads rumors that are baseless.”

“S'pose so, the Galdera keep the Kerdra in high standings though,” the blonde man said, his hands had moved away from the grass and to the cliff face. Now picking off some of the loose rock and watching the pebbles fall down the long drop to the ground below; “We only consider the king to be an idiot while his citizens are simply just following the orders of a man that just isn’t the right person to rule a country like yours.” 

“I’d take that as an insult if I didn’t agree with you,” The tall man had stopped twirling his chainmail and was not actively trying to pull off the loose chain as it had been bothering him for miles as it clanged quietly against his armor. “I was told by my parents that the king was coronated at such a young age and had been looking for a reason to declare war with someone for years. He is a fierce warrior king that has been known in the kingdom for being a warmonger and an instigator to bicker constantly with people in his inner circle. He holds public executions monthly with a usual death toll of 20. He’s hated by most of the people, but loved because he’s such a patriot and is very vocal about how strong his national pride is.”

“So why do you hate him specifically and why are you in his royal guard?” The blonde man pointed out, he saw the armor and knew that no one outside of the royal guard could pay for specialized weapons with rare dyes and dark, unique armor that had the Kerdren emblem displayed proudly highlighted with the rare dye.

“You have a good eye, don’t you? My dad was actually the captain of the royal guard if you could believe it, I wanted to follow in his footsteps so I pushed myself to train hard enough to get into it.” The tall man peered down onto his armor to look at the emblem, noticing scuff marks and streaks of dirt, he licked his glove and wiped away the muck, “I like my position right now, I think that it’s where I’ve always wanted to be, but it’s hard when the person you’re directly serving is the cause of most of your problems. I hate the man in every sense of the word and wish that he would just drop dead. My country is tired of fighting, and simply wishes to put it’s arms down and welcome peace back to its rightful place.” 

The blonde man noticed the slight pang of sadness at the end of that sentence and knew that in good time he would know why that it belonged there. “So what are your plans when your courageous leader calls you back to your original post? I’m sure that this guarding job was temporary at most.”

“Actually, I have to confess a lie that I told,” the tall man raised his arm and scruffed the back of his hair, “I wasn’t here to guard the bridge from the Galderan, I was here for the blue dye and I noticed you coming before you saw me, so I went and I stood in the middle of the bridge so that I could keep you from moving into our territory.”

“Blue?” the tall man felt as if the blonde man had only noticed that word in that speech and not the fact that he had blatantly told him that he was lying, “Is that what the name of that color is?” the man queried, pointing a finger to the man’s hair.

“Oh… yeah, that’s the color, do you not have a name for it? I always thought that because our trade relations were good enough that before the war, the name had spread around everywhere.” the blue man said, he posed the sentence more as a question than that of a simple statement, “I guess not.”

“We have a color that’s similar to it, but not something that vibrant. Nowhere close to that actually; if anything, it’s more of the color of the leaves of the trees by the waterfall.” The blonde man said, he was dumbfounded that this color hasn’t been named by his people yet, and oddly, he was a bit angry that people of Kerdra had not given the name up. It’s like it was nationally decreed to not tell anyone of the color, “It’s nice to know that this color has a name, here I’ve been calling the color exotic, my people always call it yellow-green. It’s funny how things like the color of the sky have their own name rather than just the mixture of the sun and the plants.”

“That’s such an odd coincidence, but it genuinely doesn’t surprise me, our people are known for being petty. They like to feel unique and proud that they built their lands from the ground up. I’m glad that I could tell someone like you the name of such a beautiful color.” The blue man said, adding a hint of yearning. The blonde man plainly looked at the blue man as he gazed over the expansive forest below, he noted that every curve of the man’s face and stopped at the jaw. He then looked at the hand placed beside him so that the blue man could support his posture as he sat. The blonde man noticed this and sat up out of his hunched posture, took his hand and mirrored the way that the other was sitting, placing his hand quaintly on to the other’s and looked outward.

The blue man turned quickly, but not in offense, rather he turned in surprise and even a bit of joy had surged through the man’s head. He hoped this wasn’t just a boundless lead to something that could tragically end up in execution. He wanted so badly for this to be what he thought it was.

“Anyway; Neptune, right?” the blonde man said, making sure that he wasn’t butchering the name of a friend he just met, “I have a question that I would like to ask you.” the blue man anticipated what the next words out of the man’s mouth would be. 

“What?” The blonde man craned his neck to look the other right in his eyes, he slightly tilted his own head and asked: 

“Would you like to put an end to this silly war?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> couple of notes,  
1\. this fiction will be done by October 1st, with the last chapter being posted on that day.  
2\. did you know English didn't have a word for blue? the word technically derives from German, and comes from French. also, Russians are able to tell the difference between two types of blues a lot easier than anyone and think that blue and Cyan are two entirely different colors.  
3.this fic will approximately be 25,000 words and 10 chapters.


	3. 3%

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a three percent chance that we're going to make it.

After much deliberation, the blue man agreed, they had not pounded out the details of how they would end this war that had plagued both of them with tragedy and chaos throughout both of their already short lives. 

The blonde man had an idea of how he wanted to stop him, but he did not think that the blue man would agree with the solution that he had come up with. The main problem that the blonde man could come up with his plan is that it entailed the ruthless, barbaric, and sudden end of a line of monarchs. The family itself was riddled with disease, but most of the ancestors had proven to be good at what they did; seeing as they have never had a revolution in the history of Kerdra, at least to the blonde man’s knowledge they haven’t.

In any case, the idea itself was absurd to think that how they would pull off a revolution like that. They’d have to get into the city somehow, traverse through it without being noticed by most of the people throughout the city, get into the castle without alerting a guard, and if they managed all of that; they’d still have to get through the royal guard and to the king, who is trained to be a formidable foe from what rumors have been spread. This was going to need much deliberation between the two of them as there was a glaring problem with their weapons: or the lack thereof in this case.

The blonde man also reflected upon his past actions as well; just 5 minutes ago, he had placed his own hand upon another, and not just any other person, but one of the same gender! Back in Galdera, even an act such as this was completely outlawed and resulted in immediate execution. Alas, the blonde man knew that the reciprocated feeling was there. If not, the man next to him would not be here at this moment. In fact, the blonde man might have been bloody and dead at the bottom of that cliff if he did not reciprocate it in some form or another.

“Say, Neptune, how will we be getting into the city, and what will be doing after that?” the blonde man said, falling a bit behind while in his thoughts, “Because you might be able to get back into the kingdom, I won’t be.” the blonde man had clearly not thought of every possibility though, as there was one glaring problem with his opinion on the impossibility of sneaking back into the country. In fact, the pair might be able to just… walk… right into the castle itself. The blue man; however, knew this exact flaw and had been thinking of this approach since they agreed, what he did not think of was the exact problem that the blonde man was thinking of, although unwittingly.

“Well, Sun, considering that I am a part of the royal guard and you look like any man in the army… no offense,” the blue man meant full offense seeing as past relationships had been with people of a similar type to his, “we can disguise you as someone who had been jumped by a thief on the outskirts of the city and needed medical attention, you sought out help, found me while I was on my way back, and I escorted you to the city. If they do not recognize you, I can simply say that you are one that farms in the lands between the two cities and have no specific affiliation between the two cities.” 

The blonde man knew the mistake he made the second he had committed to it. The blonde man simply had to take his armor off and act like the way he does back home; he just needed to act casual in a land that was unfamiliar with a man that made it all feel like he knew the city like the back of his hand. 

“I guess you’re right, I should’ve thought about that…” the blonde man said, looking down solemnly for a couple seconds, but immediately picking his mood back up,The blonde man wanted this man to know about this other man next to him. 

The man wanted to know so much about the other that he started to daydream. He wanted to grow close to him, he wanted to know why he hated the king, he wanted to know what the man’s favorite season was, and what he did when he was nervous, and what his pet peeves were. He wanted to know what made him happy, sad, angry, and even what made the man apathetic. He wanted to know what the man thought about vegetables and what the man’s favorite smell was and if the blonde man could find a way to make that smell. The blonde man wanted to know what the blue man looked like when he was asleep, he wanted to know the man’s dreams and what got the man up in the morning. He wanted to know who the man’s type was, he wanted to know what the man’s dream wedding looked like, he wanted to know what the man’s ideal person to marry was like.

he didn’t know where to start though, so he started where everyone does; “so, what are your hobbies?” 

The men walked down the path for hours and miles, talking, getting to know each other, they talked about their favorite colors: Blue and Yellow fittingly, but not respectively; they talked about what their lives were like in their home countries, the blonde man talked passionately about how it was quaint as his pay allowed his family of 3 with his father and his 2 siblings to live comfortably, while the blue man lived in the quarters of the castle but neglected to talk about his family and changed the subject before the blonde man had the chance to ask. 

They talked about their favorite They talked about their favorite smells, apple pie for the blonde man, and, as the blue man described, the smell of: “the blue dye when it’s in a large quantity in a bucket or something, and like, you grab a spoon or the stirrer thing and you put it right up to your nose, and take such big whiff that your nose touches the raw dye, and so it stays with you for the rest of the day.” this made the blonde man laugh so hard that he snorted

the blue man didn’t know why it was so funny to the other though, it was just a description of the smell, he asked the blonde man, “ I just imagine you walking around with a nose with a singular blue dot in the middle and it just reminds me of one of those entertainers that kings put in their courtrooms,” he replied, wiping away a singular tear away from his eye, “it’s just comical when I think about someone as serious as you with a job like that.” That reply would have made the tall man angry, but when he thought about it; the blonde man was right. It was funny!

“ I guess you’re right,” All of his life, the blue man was always serious about anything that came into his life. He was serious about his job, about learning, about making things better. He was so serious about everything and he just didn’t notice it about himself until it was pointed out right into his face and made apparent that it was just his nature to be serious. It was just one of his qualities that made him unique to everyone else, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t make a joke.”

“Oh yeah? Make one.” said the blonde man incredulously.

“I’ve got a good one,” the blue man said, folding his arms and bringing a finger up to his chin, “We are walking to the castle of my home country that is at war with your country, we probably have a lot more soldiers at our disposal meaning it will be impossible to get into said castle, where we expect to walk right past the royal guard, all of whom know me like I was a brother, and right into the quarters of the king where we will just plunge a sword right into his heart….” 

The blue man wavered at the end, he realized that the only way to put an end to the warmongering king would be to end his life. That was something that he has always wanted to do, to end the man for all of the sins he had committed singularly to the tall man himself, but that didn’t mean he could do it, right? 

In any case, neither of them laughed.

“Is that what we plan on doing?” the blonde man said, twiddling his fingers, “Are we going for the king’s throat?” The blue man felt his skin start to shift under his armor, the task that they were undertaking had but one solution: kill the king or die trying. “I’m fine with that solution, but we gotta come up with a plan that’s better than dressing me up as a wounded peasant and walking me into the castle. What are we going to do when we run into the royal guard, what about the army that’s going to be posted in the castle?” 

Just then, as the two were coming upon a hill as the sun was just coming down to meet the mountains on the horizon, they started to hear something. It was a low rumbling, but it wasn’t like it was a herd of the common wildlife running about, it had a metal clang to it. As they round the top of the hill, they were met with two things, a sheer cliff and a drop leading to a clearing of the forest with an army of 10,000 men. 

“There’s your answer to one of your questions, “ The army was at the base of the tall cliff, setting up camps, putting their large brown tents up, taking armor off, stacking supplies neatly, and creating campfires in the center of the circular formation that they had set themselves up into, “that’s the full army of the Kerdran empire.” 

“Lets invade it tonight!” said the blonde man excitedly, not thinking of the difficulty or the planning required to reach the camps, the blonde man looked down, seeing many of what the Kerdran empire had to offer, a circle of blue tents had caught his eye, the color made him suspect that it was the generals of the army, “We can get ourselves some weapons, that’ll be a start to our plan.”

“Are you insane?” the tall man said, adding serious questioning as to why he was traveling with this man, “We’ll get caught and then executed.”

And so they waited for an hour for the sun to be set and for the cover of night to be given to the pair. They walked along the ledge until they were far enough from the army and found a ledge that was close enough to the ground to be able to crawl down the steep wall. They jogged in the direction the army was in until they were close enough to see their crackling fires, and hear their hearty, drunk chortles as they conversated with each other, unsuspicious of infiltrators in their midst. 

The two made it to a point where they were just outside a camp, a very specific camp the blue man pointed out that they needed to sneak to, “for information and for the quality of weapon,” said the blue man hushedly, “I need to know if it’s who I think it is.” they made it to a bright blue tent, the blonde man remembered these tents, they stood out so much from the other tents, but the knowledge of the generals of the armies was pretty much made clear when he saw it earlier.

“Why are we going to the general’s tents? What information is there that you already know?” said the blonde man, he knew the weapons were important, but the information part didn’t add up. The pair snuck to a stack of boxes piled in a pyramid formation high above them, he smelled something that vaguely reminded him of a bakery back home, a bakery with so many good memories left to be protected by the success of this mission. He smiled, but snapped out of it quick, growing serious about the task at hand.

“They aren’t generals.” The blue man said gravely, he was looking through a crack in the grouping of boxes, he pointed at a circle of men eating some meat, a cup of what looked to be alcohol, and a serious face that could only be quelled with revenge or satisfaction, “that’s the royal guard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually almost had this chapter nearly done last night, but things came up, so I had to push it back for a day. Anyway, this chapter is brought to you by Hobo Johnson, give him a listen.


	4. Uncomfortably Numb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lessons are so much more obvious the further you get from home.

They picked up their respective preferred weapons and ran. They made it a point to never be seen, but that doesn’t mean their footsteps weren’t heard. They ran for about about a mile ½ west, which was a double-edged sword; they may have gotten closer to the capital, but they had their fair share of close calls with the parts of the army that had fallen behind. 

They quickly set up their own camp, making a small camp in the middle of densely overgrown thicket of trees and bushes, with a small clearing in the middle just big enough for the two of them to make a fire and sleep. The two took off their armor, unpacked their sacks, and set their weapons down. A sigh of relief, and general night noises seemed to be the sound that had inhabited the two’s minds. They, ironically, had made it out of the woods. They finally had a chance to relax for once that night. They finally had the chance to think about what had to be done the next morning.

“We are about a day’s travel away from the city, it’s really not that far.” The blue man said, the fire crackling in the middle, “We are making good time for just the two of us, but we really need to make a plan now.” The blue man had pulled a log over to where he was, it was sturdy and thick around the center, but fat enough for the blue man to be able to sit comfortably and propped his elbows, connected to the hands that are currently holding his head, upon his knees, “tonight’s run gave me a lot of information that we needed.” 

The blonde man took his stolen sword and poked the fire, the embers crackling loudly as they fell down, “What does that mean?” the blonde man knew exactly how much they risked with the events earlier in the evening. The amount of lives that could be saved; or inversely, lost with their next actions. The amount of pain that could be prevented, the diplomatic ties that could be mended, the different cultures that could come from these stories being forged here and now.

“The king sent his entire royal guard.” The blue man said assuredly, “all except the captain. The king’s guard is well known for being formidable tacticians, and for being just as much of warmongering as their commander-in-chief. This means that the success of this journey is imperative.” 

The blonde man looked away uncomfortably as the gentleman in front of him explained this, he rubbed his neck awkwardly and was showing signs of obvious need to add his point into the discourse, “Yeah, about that whole journey thing, we haven’t come upon a clear objective yet. All we stated was that we were heading to your city, sneaking into the city, sneaking past the guard, and talking to the king about how he’s too much of a militant to be fit to rule and that he either needs to change his ways or get off the throne.”

The blonde man poked the fire again, the embers falling into the sky, the fire’s angry sounds of annoyance barked back to the instigator as he put the sword down onto the ground and returned to his original position. The blonde man opened up his mouth, paused for a second as if he was choosing his words all too carefully, “This doesn’t end with a happy ending, I hope you know that. This doesn’t get to end with us convincing him with our words. I think we both know how this ends.” 

The blonde man was talking outside of his expertise, he was always good at having the optimistic outlook, he was practically famous for it. The blonde man was a realist though, as contradictory as that sounds to how this whole situation started. The blonde man had known that this was a talk that he was going to have to have with the blue man, he’s been thinking about it constantly the past couple of days that they had been traveling together. He stood up, dusted off his trousers, and walked to where the other’s spot was and sat next to him.

“I know…” The blue man said solemnly, “I just don’t want to say it out loud.” He looked away from the man, a pang of defeat, dishonor, confrontation, and soberness had tug at his nerves, “The fact that this has to be done is nothing short of frustrating, though.”

The blonde man, whom had pulled a rock from behind him to his position; it was an uncomfortable thing with too many bumps upon its surface to ever be considered a seat. He looked to the taller man, had hesitantly raised a hand, and brought it to the man’s face. He tugged softly on his chin so that the man looking intently into his own eyes. “Say it.” 

“We have to kill the king.” the blue man said gravely, with a hint of disbelief, his eyes darting anywhere but forward. The words coming out less like an objective and more like an insult to everyone in his family line. The sentence ringing out sounds of treason and treachery. 

“You know, I never told you why I hate this man enough to betray everyone I know,” the blue man said, his eyes slightened with focus, his voice filled with conviction, “monsters don’t exist, but this man has done monstrous things.” The blue man shifted in his skin, a feeling of confession coming up his throat but getting stuck at his tongue, so he paused between breaths.

“What do you mean, Nep?” the blonde man asked, he already knew the kind of thing that was about to be said.

“I got into the guard because of my dad, right? Remember how I said my dad was captain,” the blue man breathed the sentence out, getting frustrated at his own words, his own situation, the blonde man simply nodded, trying to convey sympathy, but only being able to force out pity, “ ‘was’ is the key word here, the man that we are currently going to to take out, isn’t simply a king, but a judge, jury, and executioner.” the man’s voice teemed with regret and remorse, the air twinging with the mood of the conversation, “Hell, he’s the whole damn government if anything, everything under him are just pawns to him. Nothing matters to him other than self-preservation. He toutes that he’s going to be the savior of our kingdom, a man who keeps his people safe,  _ Us or Them! _ he shouts at the top of his ivory tower.  _ It’s us or them and if we don’t attack now they’ll attack tomorrow! _ ”

“I don’t even care what he did to my dad, how he stabbed him in the back, literally and figuratively. I don’t even care how he sent me to the slums to live as an orphan, being that poor puts perspective in you. There’s never enough food to go around and people just sort of stop caring for each other, but it’s just as self preservative as the top, the difference is that the stakes are higher for the individual at the bottom than it is for the top.”

“I lived to work my way back to the top, I lived to get revenge for my dad, but now that I think of it. My dad wasn’t even a great man to me, he was just a  _ dad _ , You know? Nobody is perfect, but that man sure pushed his luck. When I got to the royal guard, I kind of just… stopped. I lost sight of why I even tried to get there, but as we’ve been going, I regained sight of why I pushed for years, forced myself to keep getting back up when I got pushed down even though each fall was worse than the last, but I always kept getting back up. I always thought it was for a man who, ultimately had very little impact of life. He was simply a donor of seed to a dying mother.”

“I understand now why I kept going, I didn’t do it for him, I didn’t do it for me, I did for the people who were fighting a pointless war. A war caused by a misunderstanding that was well understood by the man that overreacted and dramaticized that situation and continued to rally the population of a kingdom that simply wants to be left alone. I understand that I’m doing this for the people in those slums who are always fighting, who just need a bit of help to get out of that position. I just needed someone to put that into perspective and clarity.”

The blonde man smiled a little, understanding that the pain in the other’s words were warranted, but ultimately, there would be no hesitation now. His counterpart had time to come to terms with it and this was something that he knew that if this statement was never said: The king would continue to rampage the lands. The blue man looked back into his complement’s eyes, finally finding courage to be able to see conviction when it stared him in the face.

The blonde had many ideas in his head, too many ideas. He had the other right in his hands and had free-reign as to the next decision that they would both make. His own selfish desire could end in likely tragedy or happiness that the man had wanted for as long as he had known that he had desire in any way. 

This decision is the first that the blonde man actually weighed the consequences in his head. There had never been a moment before this where he calculated risk vs. reward, only action. He furrowed his brow, almost visibly shook the thoughts from his head, and leaned in. his left hand moved from behind his body and onto the other’s knee, putting a small amount of pressure, yet no weight had been felt. He saw the ferns in his head, though the color of blue had faded somewhat, back to the color that he saw so often back in his home. His heard laughs, chatter, languid voices that expressed interest into their conversations. He felt blankets being draped over windows and beds being lied in for much too long in the morning. He smelled bread, broken for a neighbor in need. 

The blonde man didn’t dare open an eye to see what the reaction was, he felt the answer, he had not felt the ramifications of what his actions would bring where he was from. He physically felt a hand upon his own and that was all the answer he needed for it. The face that was connected to his had leaned into the hand placed softly on his face. This was something that man needed, he had never been one for beginnings, just middles. Like plants skipping the phase where they locked themselves in casings made of ancestry and the building blocks that they had given them. How happy are those whose walls already fall?

He pulled back and did not have the courage to look back, like sentence already written with no period, he had not seen what the action had given the other. What gifts and curses had been bestowed between the two, he picked up the weapon whose use had simply been reduced to fire poker. Distracted himself from the other a head was simply placed upon his shoulder, a different kind of heat coming from his right.

“What are we gonna do about that.” the blonde man had stated simply, a hint of remorse shown within his dialogue, showing the other possible regret and even a hint of anger.

“I was thinking we could keep with it,” the blue man said, finally showing boldness in the face of his inherited personality of cowardice when confronted with sudden change, “if that’s alright with you. I don’t think anyone would care if two men of high standing upon the hierarchy of men scrambling upon the earth.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea though, you know...?” He paused, “If you think about it, the outcome of this is probably going to end in one or both of our deaths, I might as well just walk back to the camp right now. Tell them what we are about to do, and let the course of the universe take its hold on my shoulders.” 

The blonde man nodded with this, simply grabbing the other’s hand, placing his own into it; “whatever happens after this, If you think that it’s best for our future, I’ll follow you there.” He said, committing to his choice as if it were a death sentence.


	5. Uncomfortably Numb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lessons are so much more obvious the further you get from home.

They picked up their respective preferred weapons and ran. They made it a point to never be seen, but that doesn’t mean their footsteps weren’t heard. They ran for about about a mile ½ west, which was a double-edged sword; they may have gotten closer to the capital, but they had their fair share of close calls with the parts of the army that had fallen behind. 

They quickly set up their own camp, making a small camp in the middle of densely overgrown thicket of trees and bushes, with a small clearing in the middle just big enough for the two of them to make a fire and sleep. The two took off their armor, unpacked their sacks, and set their weapons down. A sigh of relief, and general night noises seemed to be the sound that had inhabited the two’s minds. They, ironically, had made it out of the woods. They finally had a chance to relax for once that night. They finally had the chance to think about what had to be done the next morning.

“We are about a day’s travel away from the city, it’s really not that far.” The blue man said, the fire crackling in the middle, “We are making good time for just the two of us, but we really need to make a plan now.” The blue man had pulled a log over to where he was, it was sturdy and thick around the center, but fat enough for the blue man to be able to sit comfortably and propped his elbows, connected to the hands that are currently holding his head, upon his knees, “tonight’s run gave me a lot of information that we needed.” 

The blonde man took his stolen sword and poked the fire, the embers crackling loudly as they fell down, “What does that mean?” the blonde man knew exactly how much they risked with the events earlier in the evening. The amount of lives that could be saved; or inversely, lost with their next actions. The amount of pain that could be prevented, the diplomatic ties that could be mended, the different cultures that could come from these stories being forged here and now.

“The king sent his entire royal guard.” The blue man said assuredly, “all except the captain. The king’s guard is well known for being formidable tacticians, and for being just as much of warmongering as their commander-in-chief. This means that the success of this journey is imperative.” 

The blonde man looked away uncomfortably as the gentleman in front of him explained this, he rubbed his neck awkwardly and was showing signs of obvious need to add his point into the discourse, “Yeah, about that whole journey thing, we haven’t come upon a clear objective yet. All we stated was that we were heading to your city, sneaking into the city, sneaking past the guard, and talking to the king about how he’s too much of a militant to be fit to rule and that he either needs to change his ways or get off the throne.”

The blonde man poked the fire again, the embers falling into the sky, the fire’s angry sounds of annoyance barked back to the instigator as he put the sword down onto the ground and returned to his original position. The blonde man opened up his mouth, paused for a second as if he was choosing his words all too carefully, “This doesn’t end with a happy ending, I hope you know that. This doesn’t get to end with us convincing him with our words. I think we both know how this ends.” 

the blonde man was talking outside of his expertise, he was always good at having the optimistic outlook, he was practically famous for it. The blonde man was a realist though, as contradictory as that sounds to how this whole situation started. The blonde man had known that this was a talk that he was going to have to have with the blue man, he’s been thinking about it constantly the past couple of days that they had been traveling together. He stood up, dusted off his trousers, and walked to where the other’s spot was and sat next to him.

“I know…” The blue man said solemnly, “I just don’t want to say it out loud.” He looked away from the man, a pang of defeat, dishonor, confrontation, and soberness had tug at his nerves, “The fact that this has to be done is nothing short of frustrating, though.”

The blonde man, whom had pulled a rock from behind him to his position; it was an uncomfortable thing with too many bumps upon its surface to ever be considered a seat. He looked to the taller man, had hesitantly raised a hand, and brought it to the man’s face. He tugged softly on his chin so that the man looking intently into his own eyes. “Say it.” 

“We have to kill the king.” the blue man said gravely, with a hint of disbelief, his eyes darting anywhere but forward. The words coming out less like an objective and more like an insult to everyone in his family line. The sentence ringing out sounds of treason and treachery. 

“You know, I never told you why I hate this man enough to betray everyone I know,” the blue man said, his eyes slightened with focus, his voice filled with conviction, “monsters don’t exist, but this man has done monstrous things.” The blue man shifted in his skin, a feeling of confession coming up his throat but getting stuck at his tongue, so he paused between breaths.

“What do you mean, Nep?” the blonde man asked, he already knew the kind of thing that was about to be said.

“I got into the guard because of my dad, right? Remember how I said my dad was captain,” the blue man breathed the sentence out, getting frustrated at his own words, his own situation, the blonde man simply nodded, trying to convey sympathy, but only being able to force out pity, “ ‘was’ is the key word here, the man that we are currently going to to take out, isn’t simply a king, but a judge, jury, and executioner.” the man’s voice teemed with regret and remorse, the air twinging with the mood of the conversation, “Hell, he’s the whole damn government if anything, everything under him are just pawns to him. Nothing matters to him other than self-preservation. He toutes that he’s going to be the savior of our kingdom, a man who keeps his people safe,  _ Us or Them! _ he shouts at the top of his ivory tower.  _ It’s us or them and if we don’t attack now they’ll attack tomorrow! _ ”

“I don’t even care what he did to my dad, how he stabbed him in the back, literally and figuratively. I don’t even care how he sent me to the slums to live as an orphan, being that poor puts perspective in you. There’s never enough food to go around and people just sort of stop caring for each other, but it’s just as self preservative as the top, the difference is that the stakes are higher for the individual at the bottom than it is for the top.”

“I lived to work my way back to the top, I lived to get revenge for my dad, but now that I think of it. My dad wasn’t even a great man to me, he was just a  _ dad _ , You know? Nobody is perfect, but that man sure pushed his luck. When I got to the royal guard, I kind of just… stopped. I lost sight of why I even tried to get there, but as we’ve been going, I regained sight of why I pushed for years, forced myself to keep getting back up when I got pushed down even though each fall was worse than the last, but I always kept getting back up. I always thought it was for a man who, ultimately had very little impact of life. He was simply a donor of seed to a dying mother.”

“I understand now why I kept going, I didn’t do it for him, I didn’t do it for me, I did for the people who were fighting a pointless war. A war caused by a misunderstanding that was well understood by the man that overreacted and dramaticized that situation and continued to rally the population of a kingdom that simply wants to be left alone. I understand that I’m doing this for the people in those slums who are always fighting, who just need a bit of help to get out of that position. I just needed someone to put that into perspective and clarity.”

The blonde man smiled a little, understanding that the pain in the other’s words were warranted, but ultimately, there would be no hesitation now. His counterpart had time to come to terms with it and this was something that he knew that if this statement was never said: The king would continue to rampage the lands. The blue man looked back into his complement’s eyes, finally finding courage to be able to see conviction when it stared him in the face.

The blonde had many ideas in his head, too many ideas. He had the other right in his hands and had free-reign as to the next decision that they would both make. His own selfish desire could end in likely tragedy or happiness that the man had wanted for as long as he had known that he had desire in any way. 

This decision is the first that the blonde man actually weighed the consequences in his head. There had never been a moment before this where he calculated risk vs. reward, only action. He furrowed his brow, almost visibly shook the thoughts from his head, and leaned in. his left hand moved from behind his body and onto the other’s knee, putting a small amount of pressure, yet no weight had been felt. He saw the ferns in his head, though the color of blue had faded somewhat, back to the color that he saw so often back in his home. His heard laughs, chatter, languid voices that expressed interest into their conversations. He felt blankets being draped over windows and beds being lied in for much too long in the morning. He smelled bread, broken for a neighbor in need. 

The blonde man didn’t dare open an eye to see what the reaction was, he felt the answer, he had not felt the ramifications of what his actions would bring where he was from. He physically felt a hand upon his own and that was all the answer he needed for it. The face that was connected to his had leaned into the hand placed softly on his face. This was something that man needed, he had never been one for beginnings, just middles. Like plants skipping the phase where they locked themselves in casings made of ancestry and the building blocks that they had given them. How happy are those whose walls already fall?

He pulled back and did not have the courage to look back, like sentence already written with no period, he had not seen what the action had given the other. What gifts and curses had been bestowed between the two, he picked up the weapon whose use had simply been reduced to fire poker. Distracted himself from the other a head was simply placed upon his shoulder, a different kind of heat coming from his right.

“What are we gonna do about that.” the blonde man had stated simply, a hint of remorse shown within his dialogue, showing the other possible regret and even a hint of anger.

“I was thinking we could keep with it,” the blue man said, finally showing boldness in the face of his inherited personality of cowardice when confronted with sudden change, “if that’s alright with you. I don’t think anyone would care if two men of high standing upon the hierarchy of men scrambling upon the earth.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea though, you know...?” He paused, “If you think about it, the outcome of this is probably going to end in one or both of our deaths, I might as well just walk back to the camp right now. Tell them what we are about to do, and let the course of the universe take its hold on my shoulders.” 

The blonde man nodded with this, simply grabbing the other’s hand, placing his own into it; “whatever happens after this, If you think that it’s best for our future, I’ll follow you there.” He said, committing to his choice as if it were a death sentence.


End file.
